The PKard SDK gives iPad and iPhone app developers a rapid and cost-effective way to develop and maintain secure apps, supporting strong two-factor authentication to CAC or PIV smart cards, leveraging multiple Apple Made for iPad/iPhone (MFi) approved readers, or derived tokens, where allowed by security standards and infrastructure.

As we enter the post-PC era, with legacy PC shipments dropping off and sales of tablets and smart phones soaring, the Thursby SDK supports strong security across the full range of Apple mobile use cases from individuals and Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD), to enterprise and Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), both with or without third party Mobile Device Management (MDM). The new SDK compliments Thursby’s widely deployed PKard Reader secure browsing solutions.

Paul Nelson, Thursby’s Chief Technology Officer explains, “We saw app developers were spending large amounts of time and money re-inventing the wheel for app security, trying to do iOS low-level development, integration, testing, certification and maintenance that was hard-coded to specific cards and/or readers with generic PC/SC or PKCS11, with almost no secure apps leaving R&D labs for users’ hands. We sought to make real-world useful functionality available immediately in the SDK, from secure web, to secure messaging, signing and web-based JavaScript, abstracting the complexity of authentication engines and readers while maintaining strict FIPS 140-2 security for Data In Transit (DIT) and Data At Rest (DAR), where applicable. Secure apps can now be built in days rather than man months or years.”

Early adopters of the SDK include Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) Gradkell, makers of the DBsign® tool used in the Defense Travel Site (DTS) for secure web signing, Juniper Networks, for secure Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and Silanis, for electronic document signing, government agencies, Department of Defense commands, as well as national and international enterprise clients. Thursby will be demonstrating the new solutions at the Government Smart Card Alliance Conference in Washington, DC, November 28 and 29.

Thursby is celebrating over a quarter century of enterprise Apple integration, management and security specialization. With over 70,000 clients and over a million software licenses sold to-date, Thursby have been delivering two-factor smart card security from the mid 2000s to the US Government and enterprise worldwide. Clients come from all seven continents and range from governments, to finance, healthcare, energy, global 2000 companies, education, research, media and OEMs. For more information about Thursby and its solutions, please visit www.thursby.com.